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ANAHEIM, CALIF.—It was almost comical, as the media from two cities tried to find ways in which Randy Carlyle has changed since his time with the Anaheim Ducks.

Was he more mellow? Did he delegate more? Was he a better quote?

Carlyle, for one, said he’s changed, that constant adaptation is part of coaching. The Ducks players suddenly remembered Carlyle fondly even though his reputation was that of a task master.

Finally, it fell to Joffrey Lupul to set everyone straight. Lupul, after all, had played for Carlyle in both Anaheim and Toronto. Lupul has been in both Carlyle’s good books and bad.

“He’s still Randy,” said Lupul, a smile on his face, after Monday’s morning skate. “Yes, he’s still Randy.”

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That means he’s still tough-as-nails, demanding of his players, doing whatever it takes to get them to play his way even if, by his own admission, he has softened up a bit.

“There’s lots of things you’d like to do over again. But you can’t do that,” said Carlyle. “What you try to do is use your experience . . . .I look at things differently.

“I think I’m a calmer individual. I try to find more positives when things aren’t going the way you’d like them to go.”

The firing exposed Carlyle’s human side. Yes, it hurt that the Ducks fired him on Dec. 1, 2011, his team underachieving. And yes, it hurt that the same collection of players got instantly better without him and are now one of the elite teams in the NHL, as they were in 2007 when Carlyle was behind the bench for Anaheim’s first Stanley Cup.

So yes, it was a bit emotional for Carlyle to walk to the Honda Centre doors as “the enemy,” as he put it, for the first time since that dismissal, seeing faces so familiar to him prior to the Leafs facing the Ducks in the first game of a pivotal five-game road trip.

“It’s always nice to come back,” said Carlyle. “It’s special. This is what happens in pro sports. Now I’m part of the enemy. Ties and friendship you have here, that gets separated in a team sport. It seems cruel.”

It was clear old wounds were re-opened as the questioning surrounded his low point — getting fired — and not his high point: winning the Stanley Cup.

“We were playing really bad at that time,” recalled Ducks forward Teemu Selanne. “I think he did everything he could. All of us players have to look in the mirror and say: ‘Did we do our jobs?’

“Most of the time the coach has to pay the price and that was the case again. It was tough to see him go. He did so much good stuff here over the years and winning the Stanley Cup is something we’ll never going to forget

“Sometimes the hockey business is brutal. There’s no feelings. You just have to make some tough decisions sometimes and that was one of those.”

Ducks defenceman Cam Fowler remembers Carlyle helping to get him to the NHL level by being demanding, and tough, much like the way he is now with Jake Gardiner.

“I definitely appreciate what he did for me. It’s something I won’t forget,” said Fowler, who was anointed “CamShaft” by Carlyle. “He obviously demands a lot from his players, but that’s why he’s successful in this league.”

Carlyle did not bring his Stanley Cup ring with him on the trip. He rarely wears it.

“I kind of look at it as flaunting. I don’t know why I look at it that way. I probably wear it once or twice a year,” said Carlyle.

Part of the reason Carlyle remains humble about that Cup win is because he didn’t win it. The players did.

“The way I look at it, I was very fortunate to coach the players we had,” said Carlyle. “We had a great group of players. We had a lot of success. We enjoyed it. It was great for the franchise, but in reality it was the players who went out there.”

And there’s a key difference between his Ducks of 2007 and his Leafs so far: he did less “coaching” with the Ducks.

“That’s one thing we’re trying to sell our players on. When they take responsibility for what happens on the ice, coaching becomes easy,” he said. “That’s the difference (between teams that take) the next step and teams trying to take that step.

“The coach doesn’t have to do so much. The players take responsibility and lead the team into the playoffs.”

Carlyle retains strong ties to southern California. The family owns a pro-shop in Escondido, Calif., near San Diego that his son Derek manages. His other son, Craig, coaches the Junior A San Diego Gulls, playing in that same rink in Escondido.

As for that firing, Carlyle said he’s long ago made peace with it.

“The situation in this business, if you are not prepared for some of the pitfalls that come with it you should not be involved with it,” he said.

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